CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONS Preface
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CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONS or
THE BELIEVER'S COMPANION IN SOLITUDE
by Thomas Reade
"My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord." Psalm 104:34
"But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you." Matthew 6:6
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Mark 1:35
PREFACE
This Volume is designed to be "THE BELIEVERS COMPANION IN SOLITUDE". The Meditations, interspersed with Hymns, chiefly original, are intended to promote serious reflections, silent aspirations to God, and self-examination; and thus, through the divine blessing, to lead the heart to God in Christ, as the only Foundation for a sinner's hope; and the only Fountain of a sinner's happiness. Should this important end, in any humble measure be attained, the glory will be His from whom all good proceeds.
Frequent retirement, and reading the Scriptures with meditation and prayer, are essential, through the power of the Spirit, to our growth in grace. The more we meditate on the things of God, as revealed in his holy word, the more will our minds be brought under their sanctifying influence. The religion of Christ, is the religion of the heart. It not only enlightens the understanding, but it purifies the affections. The world will lose its fascinating power, and formality its deadening effect upon us, when once we come to a saving knowledge of Christ Crucified! We shall then use the world as not abusing it, and engage in outward forms of religion, as needful for order, but not as substitutes for personal piety. We shall then live in the spirit of the vows and promises which were made in our names at our baptism, and thus evidence our new birth, by walking before God in newness of life.
In a spirit of Christian love, the author of these Meditations has dwelt on the evil of self-deception; on our proneness to confound the sacramental sign with the thing signified; on the danger of our professing to know God, while in works we deny him; and, of resting in the form of godliness, while we deny the power thereof. Surely these subjects cannot be too frequently, nor too earnestly, enforced. If we diligently study our Bible, that only rule of faith and practice, we shall be preserved from those abounding errors which darken and pervert the truth. "The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple."
May the Saviour, who is love, impart his blessing to these Meditations on his Grace and Power, that he who writes, and they who read, may finally rejoice together in his kingdom of glory.
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